The residential use of fireplaces with raised hearths has gained widespread popularity. However, such raised hearths can pose safety hazards to the residents, especially small children. The exposed edges and corners of the hearth, generally constructed of stone, brick, or other hard material, pose a danger of concussive injury to persons falling against or otherwise contacting an edge or corner. Further, children can also suffer cuts or abrasions by simply contacting the roughened surface of said hearth edges or corners. Therefore, the invention provides a system for enclosing the edges and corners of raised fireplace hearths with protective padding. The hearth pad of the invention also provides fire prevention benefit by presenting an additional barrier to sparks and flaming embers escaping from the fireplace and possibly igniting furniture or rugs.
It is known to provide padding for fireplace hearths. However, the prior art systems are either unsecured or can only be secured in a destructive manner. The unsecured padding systems carry the high probability of the padding becoming detached from the heart corners and edges, especially in the presence of small children, and will, therefore, it can be expected, cease to offer the intended protection as well as creating other safety and aesthetic disadvantages, the prior art securable padding systems are only securable to the hearth by the use of adhesive, or by screws or bolts driven into holes drilled directly into the hearth material or adjoining environmental surfaces.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop a system for securely attaching padding to the exposed corners and edges of a fireplace hearth without damaging or otherwise altering the hearth or adjoining environmental surfaces.